Spotting & Cramping – Ectopic?

I am 4w5d (so EARLY) and I am super nervous because I have had spotting (brown) for days. it is easing up to almost nothing but I also have this weird sort of ‘pinching’ pain to the left of my bellybutton. I am freaking out about the possibility of an ectopic pregnancy.

I have booked an appointment with an OBGYN tomorrow (I don’t have one, we were not expecting to get PG this month and I was starting the search for an OB this week, with our wedding only weeks ago) but am freaking out.

My stomach has been a bit upset the last week or so and I get groin/back pain due to an injury on my left sacroiliac joint so it’s hard for me to pinpoint if this is different to run of the mill gas cramps which normally impact on my left side more anyway.

Have any of your girls had bilateral cramps and spotting without it being ectopic? I realise only a doctor can answer, and I have an appointment at 10am tomorrow, but I am just freaking out and want to vent

@MrsEME: Thanks so much. I think I am mostly freaked because it’s on my left side and combined with my usual intense left side back pain it feels super compared to my right side which feels kinda normal except for the odd pinch.

@MrsHRC: OK- so when you get pregnant, you get this little cyst on the ovary side in which the implantation occurs- luteum corpus or something iike that.

Mine happened on my left side- and you could still see my little cyst on the left side at my ultrasound @ 10 weeks. I had some SERIOUS left side pain (not serious like ER serious– but noticebale early on AND now almost every month, I get mild pain in my left side- it’s happened ever since I was pregnant.

My guess is- you have your cyst on the left side. It’s more noticeable for some that others!

@MrsHRC: I asked about this on another thread. I’m 5 weeks and I’ve been getting pinching/pulling pain on and off for days on my lower left side. Everyone said it sounds normal. I did go to the doc too. He checked for a bladder infection(as that can be a problem in early pregnancy) but since it wasn’t that said it should be fine. It’s started to subside now after about 5 days. I haven’t been getting spotting but once it’s brown I’d say you’re fine. Good that you’re going to a doctor to make sure everything’s ok.

Thanks so much for the information/reassurance ladies. The bleeding has almost completely stopped so hopefully all is well. I will let you know the results with the doctors (I hate when these threads don’t have a resoluton and hopefully it will be helpful to another scared preggo lady).

I talked to my doc because I had the same thing hapen, brown spotting and really awkard/annoying pain in my left ovary region, he kind of laughed at me and said ‘It’s normal you’re pregnant, when ever you think something is wrong, it’s normal’. He chalked it up to a cyst or just ligaments starting to pull.

Thanks. There have just been a few ectopics in my family (I know genetics isn’t a factor) so I am wary when there’s blood and bilateral pain. Now that the blood has almost entirely disappeared, I feel a lot better 🙂

@MrsHRC: I don’t know if this helps or not, and I really should have put it in my last post but my doctor also told me (because I’m frightened to death of ectopic) that the pain will get worse and worse until you just cannot stand it anymore. Knowing that also made me feel better.

Thanks all for taking the time to give your advice. I had my appointment today and I don’t really know much more than I did beforehand. The OBGYN was pretty nice (though I am not sure if she’s affiliated with any hospitals I would want to give birth at, but I will cross that bridge when I come to it) so that was good.

She did a TV ultrasound but she couldn’t find anything other than seeing that my right ovary was larger than my left (odd, as pain is on the left side) and the start of lining thickening in my uterus. She warned me that it would be unlikely that she’d see anything at 4w5d but she wanted to anyway.

She has taken bloods and should get a first reading of HCG Betas this afternoon and then I will go again Wednesday and based on that we will know if it is a continuing pregnancy and once the levels are at 2000 she can do another scan and will hopefully be able to find the bub.

Overally, she doesn’t thnk that I tick the boxes for risk factors and my pain isn’t getting worse the the blood has disappeared rather than gotten worse. She wants to act very conservatively regardless, so now it is just a waiting game until I can get a scan on Thursday provided my levels have doubled.

I still have the pinching pain to the left of my bellybutton but she said as long as it doesn’t get super painful and i don’t get dizzy, then she is not too worried. Here’s hoping all is well!

I had so much weird cramping, pulling, pinching sensations througout first trimester…none of it ever really felt like period cramps though..somtimes it was one side too, like on my left which made me nervous. I never had any spottin except for a little bit of tan colored CM 3 days after intercourse which turned out to be nothing. Had U/S two weeks later, babies were fine and in the right spot!

So just relax, wait ti see the doc, if you have any bright red bleeding, or severe crapming go to ER right away.

Thanks! The doctor called and my HCG levels are low (57) so I am feeling much less confident but equally my cycles have been anywhere from 28-25 days the past year or so with the last 3 being 30+ so it’s hard to pick where I am at. We are going to play it by ear I guess.

She said that even at 4 weeks anything from 5-420 is within ‘normal’ range and that if I am doubling on Wednesday and Friday she will be very happy. We won’t be able to confirm location until it hits 2000, assuming we get that far.

Thanks again for your kindness and support ladies, the husbone is away on business so it’s been amazing to have a sounding board on here <3